Printing system and printer

ABSTRACT

A printing server includes a registration request reception unit, a registration unit which allocates connection information for connection with the transmission origin of the registration request and an electronic mail address for receiving a printing request to the transmission origin of the registration request, a registration information transmission unit which transmits the registration information which has been allocated, a connection unit which receives the connection information and starts connection, a printing data generation unit which generates printing data, a printing waiting information transmission unit which transmits printing waiting information to the transmission origin of the XMPP connection request using XMPP when the printing data is generated, and a printing data transmission unit which receives an acquisition request for the printing data and transmits the printing data to the transmission origin of the acquisition request for the printing data according to the acquisition request for the printing data.

CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-017631,filed Jan. 31, 2011 is incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The present invention relates to a printing system, and in particular,relates to a technique where a printer is registered in a cloudcomputing system where it is possible for the main body of an electronicmail or an attached file to be printed by transmitting an electronicmail to an electronic mail address which corresponds to the printer.

2. Related Art

In the past, there was a cloud computing system which is provided with afunction where an electronic mail is received and the main body of anelectronic mail or an attached file is printed (for example,JP-A-2008-71257). The cloud computing system (referred to below simplyas a printing system) is provided with a server which generates printingdata which corresponds to a predetermined printer based on the main bodyof an electronic mail or an attached file when a predeterminedelectronic mail is received and a printer which executes printing byacquiring the printing data from the server. Accordingly, a user of theprinting system is able to use the printer even in a case where aprinter driver is not installed in each client such as a PC (PersonalComputer) or smartphone.

In the printing system, when a printer registration process, whichincludes an electronic mail address being allocated to a printer inorder that a printing target is received, is carried out in a server, anarbitrary user who knows the electronic mail address is able to use theprinter. The registration operation for registering the printer in theprinting system is performed with regard to an operation panel which isprovided in the PC which is connected to the printer or in the printer.

However, in the related art, in a case where the registration operationdescribed above is carried out, there is a problem that it is notpossible for the user to reliably know whether the printer has beenregistered in the printing system.

SUMMARY

An advantage of some aspects of the invention is that a user is reliablynotified whether or not a printer has been registered in a cloudcomputing system where it is possible for the main body of an electronicmail or an attached file to be printed by transmitting an electronicmail to an electronic mail address which corresponds to the printer.

A printing system according to an aspect of the invention is providedwith a server which receives a printing request with regard to apredetermined printer using an electronic mail and generates printingdata according to the predetermined printer based on the printingrequest and a plurality of printers which acquire the printing data fromthe server and execute printing based on the printing data. Then, theserver is provided with a registration request reception unit whichreceives a registration request using HTTP, a registration unit whichallocates XMPP connection information for connection with thetransmission origin of the registration request using XMPP and anelectronic mail address for receiving the printing request to thetransmission origin of the registration request based on theregistration request, a registration information transmission unit whichtransmits the electronic mail address and the XMPP connectioninformation to the transmission origin of the registration request usingHTTP, an XMPP connection unit which receives the XMPP connectioninformation and connects with the transmission origin of the XMPPconnection information using XMPP based on the XMPP connectioninformation which has been received, a printing data generation unitwhich generates printing data based on the printing request, a printingwaiting information transmission unit which transmits printing waitinginformation to the transmission origin of the XMPP connectioninformation using XMPP when the printing data is generated, and aprinting data transmission unit which receives an acquisition requestfor the printing data and transmits the printing data to thetransmission origin of the acquisition request for the printing dataaccording to the acquisition request for the printing data. In addition,each of the plurality of printers are provided with a registrationrequesting unit which transmits the registration request which includesidentification information of the printer and the XMPP connectioninformation to the server, and a registration notification unit whichprints or displays whether or not connection with the server andregistration to the server succeed based on information which isreceived from the registration information transmission unit and theXMPP connection unit.

According to the invention, whether or not there has been a process,where a predetermined printer is connected using HTTP (Hyper TextTransfer Protocol) and XMPP (eXtensible Messaging and Presence Protocol)and the printer has been registered in a printing system, is printed ordisplayed using the printer. As a result, it is possible reliably notifya user of whether or not a printer has been registered in the printingsystem which is a cloud computing system where it is possible to print amain body of an electronic mail or an attached file by transmitting anelectronic mail to an electronic mail address which corresponds to theprinter. In addition, according to the invention, it is not necessaryfor the printer to carry out polling for printing waiting informationsince it is possible for printing waiting information to be transmittedfrom the server to the printer using XMPP.

In the printing system in this case, the registration request receptionunit and the XMPP connection unit may acquire language information whichis set in the printer from the printer and the printing data generationunit may generate the printing data based on the language according tothe language information.

Due to this, it is possible for printing data to be generated accordingto the destination of the printer.

Here, the function of each unit which is described according to theaspects is able to be realized using hardware resources where thefunctions are specified by the configuration itself, hardware resourceswhere functions are specified by a program, or a combination of both ofthese. In addition, the function of each unit is not limited to beingrealized by hardware resources which are each physically independentfrom each other. For example, the server which is described according tothe aspects is not limited to being realized by one computer and theserver may be realized as a group where a plurality of computers iscombined with each of the units being respectively allocated.Furthermore, the invention is also established as a method, as acomputer program in which the above-described functions are realized bya server and a printer, or as a recording medium of a program. Ofcourse, the recording medium of the computer program may be a magneticrecording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, or may be arecording medium which is developed in the future.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like numbers reference like elements.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a printing system.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a server andFIG. 2B is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a printer.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating a setup sequence.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating a login sequence.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a printing sequence.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Below, embodiments of the invention will be described while referencingthe attached diagrams. Here, the same reference numerals are attached tocorresponding constituent elements in each diagram and overlappingdescriptions are not included.

1. Configuration

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a printing system as anembodiment of the invention. The printing system is configured as acloud computing system where it is possible to print a main body of anelectronic mail or an attached file by transmitting an electronic mailto an electronic mail address which corresponds to printers 4 or 5 whichare registered, and is provided with a server 1 and a plurality ofprinters 4 and 5.

The server 1 of the present example is configured from an SMTP server101, a data conversion service application (AP) server 102, a dataconversion server 103, an XMPP server 104, a printer communication APserver 105, a DB server 106, an account management server 107, an HTTPserver 108, and a content management AP server 109.

The SMTP server 101 is a server which has a function of receiving anelectronic mail which is transmitted with the electronic mail addresswhich has been registered as a destination.

The data conversion service AP server 102 which is a printing datageneration unit is a server which has a function of extracting the mainbody and the attached file from an electronic mail which is received bya SMTP server as a printing request, transferring the main body and theattached file to the data conversion server 103 as a printing target,and generating a printing job by acquiring printing data from the dataconversion server 103.

The data conversion server 103 which is a printing data generation unitis a server which has a function of converting a file which is acquiredas the printing target from the data conversion service AP server 102 toprinting data, and for example, generates printing data using pagedescription language which is specialized for text or page descriptionlanguage which is specialized for images.

The DB server 106 is a database server which manages various types ofinformation on the printer 4 and 5 and stores printing jobs so as tocorrespond to the printer 4.

The XMPP server 104 which is an XMPP connection unit and a printingwaiting information transmission unit is a server which has a functionof transmitting and receiving various types of parameters bycommunication with the printer 4 and 5 using XMPP.

The printer communication AP server 105 which is a printing waitinginformation transmission unit is an application server which relaysbetween the XMMP server 104 and the other servers and has functions suchas generating printing waiting data.

The account management server 107 which is a registration unit is aserver which has a function of registering the printers 4 and 5 in theprinting system.

The HTTP server 108 which is a registration request reception unit, aregistration information transmission unit, and a printing datatransmission unit is a server which has a function of transmitting andreceiving various types of parameters by communication with the printer4 and 5 using HTTP.

The content management AP server 109 is an application server whichrelays between the HTTP server 108 and the other servers and hasfunctions such as acquiring a printing job from the DB server 106 andtransferring the printing job to the HTTP server 108.

Each of the SMTP server 101, the data conversion service AP server 102,the data conversion server 103, the XMPP server 104, the printercommunication AP server 105, the DB server 106, the account managementserver 107, the HTTP server 108, and the content management AP server109 are provided with a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, a hard disk drive(HDD) 14, an external interface (I/F) 15, and an internal interface(I/F) 16 which is connected to these as shown in FIG. 2A. An activationprogram is stored in the ROM 13. The HDD 14 stores an operating system(OS) and a computer program for realizing each of the functions whichare described above. These programs are loaded into the RAM 12 and areexecuted using the CPU 11. The external I/F 15 is configured with aninterface or the like for connecting an interface for connection withother servers, the printers 4 and 5, and the like via the Internet andperipheral devices.

Each of the printers 4 and 5 are provided with a controller 41, anexternal I/F 42, a user I/F 46, a printing engine 43, and an internalI/F 47 which is connected to these as shown in FIG. 2B. The controller41 is formed from a CPU, a nonvolatile memory, a RAM, an ASIC, and thelike and executes a process for controlling the operation of theprinting engine 43 by executing a process for controlling an operationof the printing engine 43 using the execution of a printing program. Inaddition, the controller 41 executes a process for registering theprinters 4 and 5 in the printing system by communicating with amanagement terminal 3 and the server 1 using the execution of a webservice program which is stored in the nonvolatile memory and foracquiring printing data from the server 1. That is, the web serverprogram functions as the controller 41 which is a registrationrequesting unit and a registration notification unit. The printingengine 43 which is a registration notification unit is provided with anactuator, a sensor, a driving circuit, and a mechanical component forexecuting printing using a printing method which is common knowledgesuch as an ink jet method or a laser method. The external I/F 42includes an interface for connecting to the server 1 and the managementterminal 3 via the Internet. The user I/F 46 is an operation panel whichis configured by a display, operation keys, and the like.

2. Setup Sequence

The printers 4 and 5 are embedded into the printing system due to beingregistered in the server 1 and are able to execute printing according toa printing request which is received by the server 1. FIG. 3 is adiagram illustrating a setup sequence for registering the printers 4 and5 in the server 1.

In the embodiment, a sequence will be described where the printer 4 isregistered in the server 1 by operating the management terminal 3 formedfrom a PC (Personal Computer) which is owned by the owner of the printer4.

First, the management terminal 3 which is executed using a web browseror the like transmits a setup start request to the printer 4 bycommunicating with the printer 4 using HTTP (S100). For example, themanagement terminal 3 transmits a DNS mode, a primary DNS, a secondaryDNS, a proxy mode, an address of a proxy server, or a port number of aproxy server as the setup start request to the URL of the printer 4which corresponds to the setup start request using HTTP.

The printer 4 which acquires the setup start request activates theregistration process and transmits registration state information to themanagement terminal 3 using HTTP (S102). The registration stateinformation includes reception or non-reception (success or failure), aDNS mode, a primary DNS, a secondary DNS, a proxy mode, an address of aproxy server, a port number of a proxy server, a web service mode, aURL, registration state of the printer 4 to the server 1 (registrationcompleted or unregistered), URL of a management page which correspondsto the printer 4, a login password of the management page whichcorresponds to the printer 4, an electronic mail address which isallocated to the printer 4, the connection state of the HTTP server 108and the printer 4, and the connection state of the XMPP server 104 andthe printer 4. At this stage, since the registration of the printer 4has not been carried out in the server 1, the registration stateinformation which includes the registration state of “unregistered” istransmitted to the management terminal 3.

The management terminal 3 which receives the registration stateinformation displays the setup status on a screen based on theregistration state information which has been received (S104). At thisstage, for example, an HTML document which includes text or an imagewhich indicates that setup is in progress is displayed on the screen ofthe management terminal 3 using a browser.

The printer 4 which transmits the registration state informationaccording to the setup start request transmits a model unique ID of theprinter 4, the serial number of the printer 4, and an existinginformation deletion flag to a URL of the HTTP server 108 whichcorresponds to the registration request as the registration requestwhich corresponds to the printer 4 using HTTP (S106).

The server 1 which acquires the registration request in the HTTP server108 registers the printer 4 in the server 1 as an output unit of theprinting system based on the registration request (S108).

Specifically, the account management AP server 107 which acquires theparameters of the registration request from the HTTP server 108allocates an internal ID which corresponds to the model unique ID andthe serial number of the printer 4, an XMPP login password, a URL of amanagement page, a management page password, and an electronic mailaddress to the printer 4 so as to not overlap with other printers whilereferencing the registration information of the registration informationof other printers which are already registered in the DB server 106. Theallocation is free, but even in a case where the serial number isallocated to printers with a system which is different for each modelbased on the model unique ID and the serial number of the printer 4, itis possible to reliably allocate the internal ID which is different foreach unit of the printer to the printer 4 by allocating the internal ID.

The management page is an HTML document for editing this informationwhich is stored in the DB server 106 using HTTP.

Then, the account management server 107 stores the XMPP login password,the URL of the management page, the management page password, and theelectronic mail address in the DB server 106 as the registrationinformation of the printer 4 so as to correspond to the internal IDwhich corresponds to the model unique ID and the serial number of theprinter 4.

Furthermore, the account management server 107 registers the electronmail address which is allocated to the printer 4 in the SMTP server 101.It is possible for the server 1 to receive an electronic mail as aprinting request where the printer 4 is the output unit by theelectronic mail address which is allocated to the printer 4 beingregistered in the SMTP server 101.

In addition, the account management server 107 registers the internal IDwhich is allocated to the printer 4 in the XMPP server 104 so as tocorrespond to the XMPP login password. An XMPP JID for the XMPP server104 to communicate with the printer 4 using XMPP becomes “internalID”@“XMPP domain name of the XMPP server 104” in the embodiment. It ispossible for the printer 4 and the server 1 to communicate using XMPP bythe internal ID of the printer 4 and the XMPP login password beingregistered in the XMPP server 104 as XMPP connection information. Here,in a case where a plurality of the XMPP servers are provided to theserver 1 so as to disperse the load, it is necessary for the XMPP serverwhich corresponds to a certain printer to be allocated to each printerand registered in the DB server 106.

The account management server 107, where the printer 4 is registered inthe server 1 as the output unit of the printing system, transmits theregistration result information of the printer 4 to the printer 4 whichis the transmission origin of the registration request via the HTTPserver 108 (S110). The internal ID which is allocated to the printer 4,the XMPP login password, the URL of the management page, the managementpage password, the electronic mail address, the domain name of the XMPPserver 104, and the reception or non-reception of the registrationrequest (success) are included in the registration result information ina case where the registration is successful. On the other case, in acase where registration fails, the reception or non-reception of theregistration request (failure) is transmitted to the printer 4 as theregistration result information. Here, since it is necessary to transmitinformation which is necessary for the printer to generate the XMPP JID,the XMPP JID itself may be transmitted by being included in theregistration result information when the registration is successful.Here, in a case where a plurality of the XMPP servers are provided tothe server 1 so as to disperse the load, it is necessary that the domainname of the XMPP server which is allocated to the printer 4 is notifiedto the printer 4, but in a case where a XMPP server which communicateswith all of the printers which are registered in the server 1 is sharedand it is possible for the XMPP JID to be generated in the printer, itis not necessary that the domain name of the XMPP server is necessarilynotified to the printer 4.

The printer 4 which acquires the registration information from the HTTPserver 108 stores the internal ID which is allocated to the printer 4,the XMPP login password, the URL of the management page, the managementpage password, the electronic mail address, the domain name of the XMPPserver 104 in a nonvolatile memory, generates the XMPP JID from theinternal ID and the XMPP domain name, and transmits the XMPP JID and theXMPP login password to the XMPP server 104 as the XMPP connectioninformation (S112).

The XMPP server 104 which acquires the XMPP JID and the XMPP loginpassword from the printer 4 establishes XMPP communication with theprinter 4 and transmits the XMPP connection result (success) to theprinter 4 (S114). When the XMPP connection is successful at this time,the XMPP connection of the printer 4 and the XMPP server 104 continuesuntil the power source of the printer 4 is cut off. If there is a casewhere it is not possible to establish the XMPP connection here, theprocess is completed by the XMPP connection result (failure) beingtransmitted to the printer 4. In this case, a repeat process may betried.

When the XMPP connection with the server 1 is established, the printer 4transmits printer information to the HTTP server 108 (S116). The printerinformation includes the internal ID which is allocated to the printer4, a version of the communication arrangement, printer menu typeinformation (destination information), printer submenu type information(destination information), and printer language information, and istransmitted to the URL of the HTTP server 108 which corresponds to theprinter information using HTTP. By the printer information whichincludes the language information and the like being transmitted to theserver 1, it is possible for printing data such as a registration reportor a printing report to be generated in the server 1 according to thedestination of the printer 4.

When the SMTP server 101 receives the printer information from theprinter 4, the content management AP server 109 stores the printerinformation in the DB server 106 so as to correspond to the internal IDand transmits a reception result (success) to the printer 4 which is thetransmission origin in a case where the reception of all of the printinginformation is successful (S118). The printer information of the printer4 is stored in the DB server 106 until the XMPP connection with theprinter 4 is complete. However, in a case where at least a portion ofthe reception of the printing information fails, the transmission of theprinting information to the printer 4 is repeated until the reception ofthe printing information is successful or until a predetermined numberof times has past by transmitting the reception result (failure) to theprinter 4 which is the transmission origin.

The printer 4 which receives the reception result (success) of theprinter information transmits a registration result notification jobgeneration request to the SMTP server 101 (S122). The registrationresult notification job is a printing job for printing the registrationcontent of the printer 4 to the server 1 using the printer 4.Specifically, the internal ID is transmitted to the URL of the SMTPserver 101 which corresponds to the registration result notification jobgeneration request as the registration result notification jobgeneration request.

The SMTP server 101 which receives the registration result notificationjob generation request transmits the reception result (success) to theprinter 4 which is the transmission origin (S124).

When the reception result (success) of the registration resultnotification job generation request is transmitted from the SMTP server101 to the printer 4 which is the transmission origin, the server 1generates a registration result notification job in order for theprinter 4 to print the registration report (S126). Specifically, it isas follows. First, the content management AP server 109 acquires theinternal ID of the printer 4 from the registration result notificationjob generation request and acquires information which is to be notifiedto the user of the management terminal 3 such as the URL of themanagement page, the management page password, the electronic mailaddress, and the like which are stored so as to be linked to theinternal ID which has been acquired, the model unique ID of the printer4 which is stored to correspond to the internal ID, and the languageinformation of the printer from the DB server 106. Next, the contentmanagement AP server 109 requests information which is to be notified tothe user of the management terminal 3 which has been acquired from theDB server 106 from the data conversion AP server 102 so that thegeneration of the printing data, which is expressed in a language (forexample, the Japanese language if a Japanese language display is set inthe printer or the English language if an English language display isset in the printer) which is indicated by the language information inthe printing data of the printer for printing as the registration reportusing the printer 4, corresponds to the job ID and the model ID. Thedata conversion service AP server 102 which receives the requestgenerates the printing data which corresponds to the model unique ID inthe data conversion server 103. Next, the data conversion service APserver 102 acquires the printing data from the data conversion server103, stores the printing data in the DB server 106 so as to correspondto the internal ID and the job ID as the printing job of the printer 4,and the generation of the new printing job is notified to the printercommunication AP server 105 along with the internal ID of the printer 4.

The server 1 which generates the registration result notification jobnotifies the printer 4 which is the transmission origin of theregistration request of the generation of the new printing job usingXMPP (S128). Specifically, the printer communication AP server 105 whichhas been notified of the generation of the new printing job notifies theprinter 4 of printing waiting information which indicates that a newprinting job of the printer 4 has been generated via the XMPP server104. At this time, the XMPP server 104 specifies the other party of theXMPP communication to the printer 4 based on the internal ID which isacquired from the printer communication AP server 105 and transmits theprinting waiting information to the printer 4 using XMPP. The process,which is from the generation of the printing job up until the printingwaiting information is transmitted to the printer 4 in this manner, isable to be automatically executed by the server 1 since the printingwaiting information is transmitted using XMPP and polling from theprinter 4 is not necessary. Accordingly, it is possible for thegeneration of the printing job to be immediately notified to the printer4, and in addition, it is possible for the printer 4 to be notified ofthe generation of the printing job with a minimum amount ofcommunication.

The printer 4 which acquires the printing waiting information transmitsthe reception result (success) to the XMPP server 104 using XMPP (S138).

Next, the printer 4 requests the printing job information, which isnecessary for the printing data to be acquired, from the server 1(S140). Specifically, the printer 4 transmits the internal ID of theprinter 4 to the URL of the HTTP server 108 which corresponds to therequest for the printing job information using HTTP.

The server 1 which receives the request for the printing job informationtransmits the reception result (success), the job ID, the URL of theHTTP server 108 which corresponds to the job ID, and the type of pagedescription language of the printing data to the printer 4 as theprinting job information (S142). Specifically, the content management APserver 109 acquires the internal ID which is acquired by the HTTP server108 as a request for the printing job information and transfers the jobID, the printing data, and the page description language of the printingdata which are stored to correspond to the internal ID to the HTTPserver 108 by being acquired from the DB server 106. The HTTP server 108generates a URL which receives a printing data acquisition request whichcorresponds to the job ID and transmits the reception result (success),the job ID, the URL which receives the printing data acquisitionrequest, and the type of page description language of the printing datato the printer 4 as the printing job information using HTTP.

The printer 4 which acquires the printing job information waits for theprinter 4 to be in an idle state and requests the printing data when inan idle state (S146). Specifically, the printer transmits the internalID of the printer 4 to the URL of the HTTP server 108 which receives theprinting data acquisition request as the printing data acquisitionrequest via HTTP.

The server 1 which requests the printing data transmits the receptionresult (success) and the printing data which is requested to the printer4 using HTTP (S148). Specifically, the HTTP server 108 transmits theprinting data which corresponds to the URL which receives the printingdata request and the reception result to the printer 4 using HTTP.

The printer 4 which acquires the printing data performs analysis of theprinting data based on the page description language of the printingdata and executes the printing of the registration report based on theprinting data (S150).

The printer 4 which has completed printing transmits the executionresult information to the HTTP server 108 (S154). Specifically, theprinter 4 transmits the internal ID of the printer 4, the job ID whichexecuted the printing, the execution result of the printing job (successor failure), and the reason for the execution result (normal, paperjamming, out of ink, or the like) to the URL of the HTTP server 108which corresponds to the execution result information (S152).

The server 1 which acquires the execution result information in the HTTPserver 108 updates the printing job based on the execution resultinformation (S156). Specifically, the HTTP server 108 transmits thereception result (success) of the execution result information to theprinter 4 and the content management AP server 109 deletes the printingdata which corresponds to the job ID from the DB server 106 if theprinting job execution result indicates a success based on the executionresult information which is received by the HTTP server 108. However, ina case where at least a portion of the reception of the execution resultinformation fails, the transmission of the execution result informationto the printer 4 is repeated until the reception of the execution resultinformation is successful or until a predetermined number of times haspast by transmitting the reception result (failure) to the printer 4which is the transmission origin.

In the execution of the setup sequence described above, the managementterminal 3 which transmits the setup start request periodically requeststhe setup status from the printer 4 (S130). Specifically, a setup statusrequest is transmitted to the URL of the printer 4 which corresponds tothe setup status request.

The printer 4 which receives the setup status request transmits theregistration state information to the management terminal 3 using HTTP(S132). The registration state information is the same as the contentwhich the printer 4 transmits to the management terminal 3 immediatelyafter acquiring the setup start request in S102.

The management terminal 3 which receives the registration stateinformation displays the registration state on a screen based on theregistration state information which was received in the same manner asS104 (S134). At a stage where the registration of the printer 4 to theserver 1 is complete, for example, an HTML document, where the URL ofthe management page, the management page password, the electronic mailaddress, and the like are described, are displayed on the screen of themanagement terminal 3 using a browser.

Here, in the series of sequences where the printer 4 is registered inthe server 1, when there is failure in the reception of the registrationrequest, failure in the XMPP connection, failure in the reception of theprinter information, failure in the reception of the printing waitinginformation, failure in the reception of the printing job informationrequest, failure in the reception of the printing data request, orfailure in the reception of the printing job execution resultinformation, error information is transmitted from the server 1 to themanagement terminal 3 using HTTP. For example, an HTML document wherethe content of the failed process, the cause of the failure, and thelike is described is transmitted from the server 1 to the managementterminal 3 as error information. As a result, an error notification isdisplayed in the screen of the management terminal 3 which received theerror information using the browser based on the error information.

In the setup sequence described above, the reception or non-reception ofthe registration request, the registration result information, the XMPPconnection result, the reception result of the printer information, andthe registration result notification job generation request aretransmitted from the server 1 to the printer 4 in a process where theprinter 4 is registered in the server 1 while the printer 4 is connectedusing HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and XMPP (eXtensible Messagingand Presence Protocol). This information indicates the connection ornon-connection of the HTTP connection and the XMPP connection betweenthe printer 4 and the server 1 and whether or not registration, which isnecessary for the server 1 to process the printing request with regardto the printer 4, has been performed. Accordingly, it is possible forthe connection or non-connection of the printer 4 and the server 1 andthe registration or non-registration of the printer 4 with regard to theserver 1 based on this information to be printed by the printer 4 ordisplayed on the display of the user I/F 46. As a result, it is possibleto the user to be reliably notified on whether or not the printer 4 isregistered in the printing system which is a cloud computing systemwhere the main body of an electronic mail or an attached file is able tobe printed by an electronic mail being transmitted to the electronicmail address which corresponds to the printer 4.

3. Login Sequence

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a login sequence. The login sequencestarts when the power source is input by the power source button beingpressed again after the power source is cut off by the power sourcebutton of the printer 4 being pressed by the user after the setupsequence has been completed. In the login sequence, the printer 4performs an initialization process for each section, establishes an XMPPconnection with the server 1, and performs confirmation of the printingjob.

Specifically, in the same manner as S112 of the setup sequence, theprinter 4 transmits the XMPP connection information to the XMPP server104 (S200). The XMPP server 104 which acquires the XMPP connectioninformation establishes the XMPP connection in the same manner as S114(S202).

The printer 4 where the XMPP connection with the server 1 has beenestablished transmits the printer information to the server 1 using HTTPin the same manner as S116 of the setup sequence (S206). That is, thetransmission of the printer information is executed each time the XMPPconnection is established with the server 1. The server which acquiredthe printer information transmits the reception result to the printer 4using HTTP in the same manner as S118 and the printer information isstored until the completion of the XMPP connection (S208).

The printer 4 which transmits the printer information to the server 1requests printing job information from the server 1 using HTTP in thesame manner as S140 of the setup sequence (S212). The server 1 whichacquires the request for printing job information transmits the printingjob information to the printer 4 using HTTP in the same manner as S142(S214). The printer 4 which acquires the printing job informationexecutes printing by requesting the printing data if there is a printingjob. By the printer 4 automatically acquiring the printing jobinformation after the input of the power source in this manner, it ispossible for the printer 4 to execute the printing job, which isgenerated in the server 1 while the power source is cut off, immediatelyafter the power source is input.

4. Printing Sequence

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating a printing sequence. Theprinting sequence is started by an electronic mail which is a printingrequest being transmitted from the management terminal 3 or the guestterminal 2 to the electronic mail address which has been registered(S300). The server 1 processes the main body of the electronic mail orthe attached file, which are received in the electronic mail addresswhich is registered, as the printing target as will be described later.As a result, when the user transmits the electronic mail where the mainbody or the attached file is the printing target, there is processingusing the server 1 where the electronic mail is the printing request.The electronic mail address which is the destination of the printingrequest which is different for each printer is display on a screen ofthe management terminal 3 or printed using the printer 4 as alreadydescribed in the setup sequence. Accordingly, the management user whichregisters the printer 4 in the server 1 using the management terminal 3and the guest user which is notified of the electronic mail address fromthe management user are able to transmit the printing request withregard to the printer 4 to the server 1 using an arbitrary terminal.Below, an electronic mail is transmitted from the guest terminal 2 tothe email address which corresponds to the printer 4 as the printingrequest.

When the electronic mail is transmitted as the printing request, theserver 1 generates a printing job which corresponds to the printingrequest (S302). Specifically, it is as follows.

The electronic mail which is the printing request is received by theSMTP server 101. When the electronic mail with the destination of theelectronic mail address which has been registered is received by theSMTP server 101, the data conversion service AP server 102 analyses theelectronic mail by acquiring the electronic mail from the SMTP server101, the main body and the attached file which corresponds to the dataconversion server 103 are extracted as printing targets and a job ID isapplied to each of the files with regard to the printing targets whichhave been extracted. Then, the data conversion AP server 102 specifiesthe internal ID and the model ID of the printer 4 which corresponds tothe electronic mail address which is the destination of the electronicmail by referencing the DB server 106. Next, the data conversion APserver 102 transfers the printing target to the data conversion server103 so as to correspond to the job ID and the model ID. The dataconversion server 103 converts each of the printing targets which havebeen acquired to printing data which corresponds to the model of theprinter based on the model ID. At this time, the data conversion server103 generates the printing data using a page description language whichis specialized for text if the printing target is mainly text andgenerates the printing data using a page description language which isspecialized for images if the printing target is mainly images. Whetherthe printing target is mainly text or whether the printing target ismainly images is determined based on an expander of the file which isacquired as the printing request. When the printing data is generated,the data conversion AP server 102 stores the printing data in the DBserver 106 as a printing job of the printer 4 so as to be linked to theinternal ID of the printer 4 and the job ID, and the generation of thenew printing job is notified to the printer communication AP server 105along with the internal ID of the printer 4.

The printer communication AP server 105 which is notified of thegeneration of the new printing job notifies the printer 4 of printingwaiting information using XMPP in the same manner as S128 of the setupsequence (S304).

The process from the receiving of the printing request up until thetransmission of the printing waiting information to the printer 4 inthis manner is able to be automatically executed by the server 1 sincethe printing waiting information is transmitted using XMPP and pollingfrom the printer 4 is not necessary. As a result, it is possible of thegeneration of the printing job to be immediately notified to the printer4, and in addition, it is possible of the printer 4 to be notified ofthe generation of the printing job with the minimum amount ofcommunication.

The printer 4 which acquires the printing waiting information transmitsthe reception result (success) to the XMPP server 104 using XMPP in thesame manner as S138 of the setup sequence (S306).

Next, in the same manner as S140, the printer 4 requests the printingjob information which is necessary for acquiring the printing data tothe server 1 using HTTP (S308). The printer 4 transmits the internal IDof the printer 4 to the URL of the HTTP server 108 which corresponds tothe request of the printing job information using HTTP.

The server 1 which receives the request for printing job informationtransmits the reception result (success), the job ID, the URL of theHTTP server 108 which corresponds to the job ID, and the type of pagedescription language of the printing job to the printer 4 as printingjob information using HTTP in the same manner as S142 (S310). In thecase where the printing target is formed from a plurality of files, ajob ID and a URL for each file are transmitted to the printer 4 as theprinting job information.

The printer 4 which acquires the printing job information waits for theprinter 4 to be in an idle state and requests the transmission of theprinting data by transmitting the URL which receives the printing dataacquisition request to the HTTP server 108 when the printer 4 is in anidle state in the same manner as S146 (S312). At this time, the printer4 requests the transmission of the printing data to the URL for each jobID in a case where a plurality of the job IDs are included in theprinting job information which has been acquired.

The HTTP server 108 to which the transmission of the printing jobinformation is requested transmits the reception result (success) andthe printing data which corresponds to the URL which receives theprinting data acquisition request to the printer 4 using HTTP in thesame manner as S148 (S314).

The printer 4 which acquires the printing data executes the printingbased on the printing data in the same manner as S150 (S316).

The printer 4 which has completed printing transmits the executionresult information of the printing job to the HTTP server 108 in thesame manner as S154 (S318).

The server 1 in which the execution result information is acquired inthe HTTP server 108 updates the printing job based on the executionresult information, similarly to S156 (S320).

Next, the server 1 transmits the execution result (success or failure)of the printing request to the guest terminal 2 which is thetransmission origin of the printing request using an electronic mail(S322). Specifically, the content management AP server 109 generates anelectronic mail where text which indicates that the printing is completeor has failed based on the execution result information and the printingtarget where printing is complete or has failed is the main body and thedestination is the guest terminal 2 which is the transmission origin ofthe printing request and transmits the electronic mail which has beengenerated to the guest terminal 2 via the SMTP server 101.

When the guest terminal 2 receives the electronic mail (S324), the userof the guest terminal 2 is able to know the processing result of theprinting request.

The processes from S312 to S324 are executed for each printing job inthe order which is stored in the DB server 106. For example, in a casewhere a job ID which corresponds to the main body of an electronic mailand a job ID which corresponds to an attached file “A” are included inthe printing job information which has been acquired and the printingjob which corresponds to the main body of the electronic mail is storedfirst in the DB server 106, the printer 4 executes printing by acquiringthe printing data which corresponds to the main body of the electronicmail by transmitting a first URL which corresponds to the main body ofthe electronic mail to the HTTP server 108 and transmits the executionresult information to the HTTP server 108. When the HTTP server 108receives the execution result information, the content management APserver 109 deletes the printing job which corresponds to the main bodyof the electronic mail from the DB server 106 based on the executionresult information which has been acquired from the HTTP server 108.Then, the content management AP server 109 transmits that the printingjob which corresponds to the main body of the electronic mail iscomplete to the guest terminal 2 using an electronic mail via the SMTPserver 101. Next, the printer 4 executes printing by acquiring theprinting data which corresponds to the attached file “A” by transmittinga second URL which corresponds to the attached file “A” to the HTTPserver 108 and transmits the execution result information to the HTTPserver 108. When the HTTP server 108 receives the execution resultinformation, the content management AP server 109 deletes the printingjob which corresponds to attached file from the DB server 106 based onthe execution result information which has been acquired from the HTTPserver 108. Then, the content management AP server 109 transmits thatthe printing job which corresponds to the attached file is complete tothe guest terminal 2 using an electronic mail via the SMTP server 101.

5. Other Embodiments

Here, the technical scope of the invention is not limited to theembodiment described above and it is obvious that various modificationmay be added in the range which does not depart from the concept of theinvention.

For example, an example has been described in the embodiment describedabove where the printer 4 is registered in the server 1 by operating themanagement terminal 3, but the printer 4 may be registered in the server1 by the user I/F 46 of the printer 4 being operated by the user.

In addition, when all of the processes are complete up until S320described above with regard to all of the printing jobs which aregenerated according to the printing request which was received from theguest terminal 2, the execution result (success or failure) for theentire printing request may be transmitted from the server 1 to theguest terminal 2 which is the transmission origin of the printingrequest using one electronic mail.

Furthermore, an example is shown in the embodiment described above wherethe printer 4 automatically executes printing job when the printingwaiting information is received from the server 1, but for example,information which indicates the existence of the printing job may bedisplayed in the user I/F 46 of the printer 4 which receives theprinting waiting information and the printer 4 may execute the printingjob by waiting for a printing job execution instruction by the user.

In addition, an example is described in the embodiment described abovewhere the server 1 is configured using a plurality of server computerswhich are physically independent, but an arbitrary physical computerconfiguration is possible such as the functions of the server 1 beingexecuted by a single server computer.

In addition, with regard to the communication protocol of the printer 4and the server 1, the printing waiting information may be transmittedfrom the server 1 to the printer 4 using a push type protocol (aprotocol where a request from a client for execution of the process withregard to the client from a server is not necessary) and a protocol of apush type other than XMPP may be used. A portion of the communicationwhich uses HTTP is able to be replaced with another communicationprotocol of a pull type (a protocol where a process with regard to theclient from the server is necessarily executed according to a requestfrom the client), and a portion of the communication using HTTP is ableto be replaced with XMPP or another push type protocol. For example,instead of XMPP, Web Socket may be used.

What is claimed is:
 1. A printing system comprising: a server whichreceives a printing request with regard to a predetermined printer andgenerates printing data according to the predetermined printer based onthe printing request; and a printer which acquires the printing datafrom the server and executes printing based on the printing data,wherein the server is provided with a registration request receptionunit which receives a registration request using HTTP, a registrationunit which allocates XMPP connection information for connection with thetransmission origin of the registration request using XMPP, aregistration information transmission unit which transmits the XMPPconnection information to the transmission origin of the registrationrequest using HTTP, an XMPP connection unit which receives an XMPPconnection request which includes the XMPP connection information andconnects with the transmission origin of the XMPP connection requestusing XMPP based on the XMPP connection request which has been received,a printing data generation unit which generates printing data based onthe printing request, a printing waiting information transmission unitwhich transmits printing waiting information to the transmission originof the XMPP connection request using XMPP when the printing data isgenerated, and a printing data transmission unit which receives anacquisition request for the printing data and transmits the printingdata to a transmission origin of the acquisition request for theprinting data according to the acquisition request for the printingdata, and the printer is provided with a registration requesting unitwhich transmits the registration request which includes identificationinformation of the printer and the XMPP connection request whichincludes the XMPP connection information to the server, and aregistration notification unit which prints or displays whether or notconnection with the server and registration to the server succeed basedon information which is received from the registration informationtransmission unit and the XMPP connection unit.
 2. The printing systemaccording to claim 1, wherein the registration request reception unitand the XMPP connection unit acquire language information which is setin the printer from the printer and the printing data generation unitgenerates the printing data based on the language according to thelanguage information.
 3. A printer which is connected to a server, saidserver comprising: (a) a registration request reception unit whichreceives a registration request using HTTP; (b) a registration unitwhich allocates XMPP connection information for connection with atransmission origin of the registration request using XMPP; (c) aregistration information transmission unit which transmits the XMPPconnection information to the transmission origin of the registrationrequest using HTTP; (d) an XMPP connection unit which receives a XMPPconnection request which includes the XMPP connection information andconnects with the transmission origin of the XMPP connection requestusing XMPP based on the XMPP connection request which has been received;(e) a printing data generation unit which generates printing data basedon the printing request; (f) a printing waiting information transmissionunit which transmits printing waiting information to the transmissionorigin of the XMPP connection request using XMPP when the printing datais generated; and (g) a printing data transmission unit which receivesan acquisition request for the printing data and transmits the printingdata to the transmission origin of the acquisition request for theprinting data according to the acquisition request for the printingdata; and said printer comprising: (h) a registration requesting unitwhich transmits the registration request which includes identificationinformation of the printer and the XMPP connection request whichincludes the XMPP connection information to the server; and (i) aregistration notification unit which prints or displays whether or notconnection with the server and registration to the server succeed basedon information which is received from the registration informationtransmission unit and the XMPP connection unit.
 4. The printing systemaccording to claim 3, wherein the registration request reception unitand the XMPP connection unit acquire, from the printer, languageinformation which is set in the printer, and the printing datageneration unit generates the printing data based on the languageaccording to the language information.